hi,

i've installed the adawaresepersonal tool, but when i start scanning a message pops up and shuts down the computer. i have read in another self help topic about cws doing this, so i have installed and run the tools to remove cws as advised, but i am still not able to scan with adaware. does anyone know of any other malwares that will stop adaware? if there are too many to list, what can i do? any help is much appreciated.

cheers,

cade.

Hi cade and welcome.

You mentioned that a message pops up and shuts down the computer. Could you tell us what that message says?

Try running AdAware in Safe Mode, that may work.

thanks for the welcolm leurgy,

the message says...

"the system is shutting down. please save all work in progress and log off. any unsaved changes will be lost. this was initiated by nt authority/system.

time before shutdown 00:00:00

the system must shut down. the dcom server process launder service has terminated unexpectedly".

this happens even when it's in safe mode, ie the general tab in configuration has the safe mode with a green check.

what do you think?

c

Open Ad-Aware SE and click on the gear icon. Open the Tweak tab and then click on Scanning Engine. UNCHECK "Unload recognized process and modules during scan".

See if will complete a scan for you that way.

You definitely have some spyware on there.

When I say safe mode I mean a way to boot your computer that uses a minimum of processes. I'm pretty sure you won't have DCom running in safe mode, and you can run AdAware without triggering the shutdown. This is a ploy used by some spyware programs to save themselves from oblivion.

Take a look at this site. It has some tips and tricks concerning XP. Look at the section titled "How to Access Safe Mode" and try that. Run AdAware when you get there and I think you will have more success.

Post back and let us know how you made out.

ok,

i've tried both ideas...

when i ran in safe mode the same problem occured.

when i unchecked the "unload recognized process and modules during scan" the scan worked, but when i try to quarantine the bugs my virus scanner (mcafee virusscan enterprise 8.0.0) comes up with a virus scan alert with the details of...

application - ad-aware.exe
detected as - adware b-b
type - adware
name - 404848

and seems to not allow adaware to quarantine, the programme freezes.

If McAfee recognizes it I don't see why it won't remove it during a scan. Have you tried that? Open your virus scanner and go to properties and make sure it is set up as shown here.

You could disconnect your internet connection, shut down McAfee and scan again with AdAware.

You may be able to find this in Add/Remove programs as Bargains. You can try uninstalling from there but you cant be sure it will work. When you do that these types of programs often come back.

Let us know how you make out.

This actually looks like its associated with a worm trying to do a dcom exploit on your machine and crashing lass.exe or rpc. If this is XP, enable the firewall built into it. INstructions can be found here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial40.html

Once that is enabled the rebooting should stop and you can move forward with cleaning your computer. Also go and visit www.windowsupdate.com and update all the critical updates. You are having this problem because your computer is not properly updated.